Like life, social media means something different to each one of us. Indeed, if we step back far enough, if we look at our own respective social media presence, we kind of get a super, super abstract vision of our own values. I am sure there are ways to further elaborate on that but I also know there are likely hundreds of college seniors writing their thesis on this as I type this and I'll be damned if I write their paper for them.
Facebook status prompts are not for me. The one's that say, "take this quiz to see which of your five friends would be in horror film with you," or "the first 3 people on your contact list have to define you in 3 words," etc. There's nothing wrong with digging that and I get as much of a chuckle as anyone when I find out that I'm most likely to die second in someone's horror movie because I find it a viable plan to try and "talk it out" with the un-dead during a zombie apocalypse as the next guy, but when I look back on my social media times I prefer to see photos of varying degrees of embarrassing situations and archived tweets that make sense to very small audiences and sometimes years later (thanks to Timehop) go way over my head as well.
That said, a couple of weeks ago, I was tagged in a prompt that asked me to list 12 albums that have "stuck with me" throughout my life. A stickler for following directions (scoff) I was advised not to overthink it and not to explain what made an album stick out. Frankly, I was so compelled that the prompt made clear to say albums that resonate and not necessarily your "favorites" were to be listed. I was smitten with that seemingly minute detail and I admit I had a great time making some stops on the nostalgia train. While the status prompt was deleted (sorry, brother) and advised that no explanation be provided for why an album was listed. I did the list on my own time and I wanted to take the time to chronicle these for my reference. The only other caveat here was that no one artist could be used twice on the list.
With that out of the way, here, in no particular order, are the 12 albums that have "stuck with me" over the years. Again, a list of my favorite albums would be much different.
1. "Before These Crowded Streets" - Dave Matthews Band - My appreciation of DMB should be a secret to no one. "Everyday" was one of the first 2 albums I ever owned. Indeed, before grade 8, prior to my tastes in music diversifying and rounding about a bit, one could say that as far as music appreciation goes, my passion bordered on obsession. That makes picking a particular album all the more difficult, as I feel like each of these albums molded me in different ways. To be clear, I was made who I am by my family and friends, but I think DMB played about as much of a role in shaping me as a piece of pop culture can.
I go with "Before These Crowded Streets" because my family was very late to the "getting a computer" club. While my friends were chatting on AIM, I was still trying to call them up on the telephone unsuccessfully because their use of dial-up service was preventing the phone call from going through. There was a stretch of months where I owned all of the other DMB albums (at least the studio ones and "Listener Supported") except for BTCS. For BTCS, I used to have to rent it from the library, wear the hell out of the CD for a week or so, return the CD, and hope it was available for checkout the next time I went to the library. Rest assured, those trips to the library were as nerve-wracking and exciting as trips to the library ever get. I can't in good conscience place one Dave album over another, but getting to listen to BTCS always felt like a treat that I never took for granted. For the life of me, I don't know why I just didn't ask someone to burn it for me, but I digress.
2. "Tommy" - The Who - Can honestly say that this is not here because of the Miller Place Panther Player production, but I'm sure that doesn't hurt either. I think, honestly, I'm just a sucker for albums that reprise themselves. Every album is a story or tale in an artistic sense - I get that. But I think that the idea that a story can be told without the benefit of theater players through music is not necessarily novel, but "Tommy" was likely my first experience with that. Plus, the quality of the music incredible and the scope of the album is just flat out admirable. It's one of those albums that (as thick and obvious as it seems) you sit back and listen to thinking, "Holy crap, people created that. Lastly, as much as I say that my resonant album list and favorite album list would be different, "Tommy" would be on both. I've read that The Who didn't even finish the album all of the way and were forced by studio deadlines to release the album "as is." Astounding to think about. What a piece of music history.
3. "Giant Steps" - John Coltrane - The first jazz album I ever bought and added to my jazz collection. Significant in a lot of ways, really. In truth, the first "jazz album" I ever owned was a 12 track Best of Miles Davis compilation. I loved it. That's no slight to Miles (like he would care in the least about my opinion... he'd ask me to pass the peas and I'd thank him for the opportunity), but a compilation is cool as can be, but doesn't really constitute a true "album" (at least not for this list). Anyway, although I started with Miles, I thought if I went right for his albums I'd run the risk of picking up "Kind of Blue" and "Bitches Brew" and calling in a day on my jazz collection. You have to understand that I was really just a kid here and jazz in a way is a pretty intimidating genre. All music is art. I want to be clear on that point. Jimi Hendrix is an artist. Arianna Grande sings songs and she creates art. Heck, a third-grade recorder concert is art.
That said, I think jazz is the only genre of music that tends to be approached as "art that is also music" instead of "music that is also art." (Now that's a thesis paper.) I think it's tough to know where to stick your foot in the pool, especially with an audience that has sadly become so niched. "Giant Steps" (the irony of the name is not lost on me) signified a commitment to get to know "jazz" not just the "jazz greats." To be clear Coltrane is an icon, who is pretty literally immortal if you consider that he has his own religious sect. Hopefully you get my meeting. Bottom line: "Giant Steps" was the first stone in what has now become a castle of my jazz appreciation and with all humility-knowledge/awareness. A few years after buying this album, I took a course with professor Stabley and the rest is history.
4 - 12 coming soon. Songs of the day seem redundant with this subject matter.
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